Dabney Close

Associate Director

Dabney is an Associate Director at ViaNova, based in Chicago, IL. Dabney works with clients, specializing in partnering with family and individual donors, to develop and implement tailored giving strategies that achieve their philanthropic goals and meet pressing needs.

Dabney has worked with family foundations, individual clients, and institutional funders on large-scale grantmaking initiatives spanning diverse subject areas, both domestically and internationally.

Prior to ViaNova, Dabney was an associate at a clinical research-based nonprofit, aiding development efforts, external communications, and annual grant making. She also worked with the Communications for Development team at UNICEF to rapidly document and share innovative social and behavioral strategies to fight COVID-19. She has experience implementing vaccination campaigns and community health initiatives in rural West Africa, and she has worked on wellness programs for the New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene.

Dabney holds a Master of Public Health from New York University, where she was a member of the Applied Global Public Health Initiative. She also has a BA in journalism and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.